SGI is expanding its ICE Cube
containerized data center offerings to give customers more flexibility and extend
the product's reach into the high-performance computing space.
SGI on May 27 introduced a Universal
class of ICE Cube that can accommodate not only the company's entire server and
storage line, but also systems from other vendors.
The company also is offering containerized data centers that
can be cooled by air. Until now, SGI's 3-year-old
ICE Cube offerings would only hold its Rackable line of half-depth servers and
could only be cooled through a liquid system.
Being able to accommodate full-size systems opens up the
containers to allow them to hold SGI's Altix
UV and Altix ICE scale-out supercomputers and its entire InfiniteStorage line
as well as servers from other vendors.
That opens up the potential customer base, according to
Geoffrey Noer, senior director of product marketing at SGI.
The half-depth setup was attractive to Internet companies such as Yahoo and
Microsoft. With the full servers—and support for systems from other vendors—SGI
can now move into other areas, such as the HPC
space.
"Our market base has broadened considerably," Noer
said in an interview. The Universal class of ICE Cube "really makes it
possible for us to address every need that's out there," he said.
Modular data centers offer entire IT infrastructures in
standard 20- to 40-foot containers that can be shipped on the back of a
tractor-trailer. The idea is to give businesses an alternative to building new
facilities when the need for more data center capacity arises.
"It's really a fraction of the cost of a brick-and-mortar
facility," Noer said.
They have been around in one form or another for many years,
but modular
data centers became popularized when Sun Microsystems introduced its
Project Blackbox in 2006. Since then, a host of systems vendors—including IBM,
Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Verari Systems—have unveiled their own offerings.
Rackable Systems, now SGI, introduced
the ICE Cube in 2007.
Universal ICE Cubes can offer roll-in cabinets or fixed racks,
density increases from 41,760 cores to 46,080 cores and 29.8 petabytes of
storage. The air-cooled container model uses filtered air from outside and
supports up to eight racks, 16,896 cores and 7.9 petabytes in a 20-foot space. SGI
can also offer a hybrid environment of full-size and half-depth systems.
The new offerings will be available in the third quarter.
Analysts have called the modular data centers a niche space,
though one that has the potential to grow to annual shipments of 300 to 350 by
2013, according to IDC.
IT & Network Infrastructure News & Reviews 
